Y'all-itics

LANGUAGE WARNING: This episode has some adult language scattered about as our guest gets fired up about what he worries the Democratic Party is not doing in South Texas.

Chuck Rocha, the senior most Democratic Latino political strategist in the country, is sounding the alarm about what his party is - and is not doing - in South Texas. Now that Hispanics are the largest racial demographic group in Texas, winning the Latino vote is the goal of politicians up and down the ballot. Some margins are so close, that vote could be the deciding factor in many races, particularly in south Texas. So just a few weeks out from the election, Rocha hit us up to talk about his worries in this part of the state. He has worked in Texas politics for more than three decades, manages a political consulting firm, ran Sen. Bernie Sanders' two presidential campaigns and co-hosts The Latino Vote podcast. Rocha’s raising red flags for his party in three south Texas congressional districts which he says are cut like “pieces of bacon” running north and south from San Antonio and Corpus Christi down to the Rio Grande. And he explains in this episode of Y’all-itics why national Democrats appear to be walking away from the Rio Grande Valley. That's going to haunt Texas Democrats forever, he said, if the party suffers a big loss down there. In fact, Rocha argues that if Democrats can’t stop a certain trend in south Texas, they won’t be able to win nationally either. The Democratic strategist also tells us why money and a Latina surname could make the races for Governor and Attorney General closer than folks are expecting.

This episode of Y’all-itics is as close to a second gubernatorial debate as Texas will get. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke both agreed to one-on-one interviews with Y’all-itics as we approach the start of early voting. Just the willingness of the state’s top two candidates to speak to us at length in the final weeks is not lost on us. It shows that both campaigns are acutely aware of how competitive this race remains. Even if you think you have your mind made up in the race for Texas governor, hear them out. We asked them pointed questions. They answered some. And tried to dodge others. P.S. This is also the first Y’all-itics we’ve ever recorded in an airport bar. P.S.S.: Early voting begins October 24 in Texas. Elections have consequences. Go vote! P.S.S.S. Tell your friends about Y’all-itics.

The race for 2024 begins next month – as soon as the polls close in the November midterm. There’s already been lots of speculation about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis potentially running for the White House. But another Republican governor, who neighbors Texas, suggested to the Jasons he might launch his own bid for President. Asa Hutchinson is a former Congressman, the former head of the DEA, and now term-limited out as Governor of Arkansas. And unlike other Republicans today, Gov. Hutchinson is not afraid to disagree with Donald Trump. Which begs the question, can a center-right, Reagan-style Republican, survive nationally in today's GOP? Gov. Hutchinson, who was in Austin recently as a guest speaker for The Texas Tribune Festival, says leadership in that environment is a delicate balancing act. And in this episode of Y’all-itics, he has a candid conversation with the Jasons

about his plan to secure the border, abortion and why he says limitations and restrictions are not the way out of gun violence.

Y’all-itics: October 1, 2022

Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke spent 57-minutes together in an empty auditorium at U.T. Rio Grande Valley on Friday night in their first and only debate before the November election. There was not a gotcha moment and no memorable soundbite. But the Jasons have some interesting observations about what they watched. They loaded up the Y’all-itics jet and flew down to the border for this one. But why all the attention on South Texas? Politically, this place is more complicated than one might imagine. They also tracked down the top political scientist on the UTRGV campus who explained why this hotly contested tip of Texas matters so much to the two parties. He also explains why it’ll take something much bigger than the Rio Grande Valley to help Beto O’Rourke come from behind and win in November.

GUEST

Professor Clyde W. Barrow, PhD

U.T. Rio Grande Valley

Chair of Political Science Department 

Y’all-itics: September 25, 2022

It’s a job no one wanted.  Restoring reliability in the Texas electric grid. Brad Jones took the governor’s call and agreed to be the interim CEO of ERCOT. Over the last year and a half, he has made significant changes to how ERCOT operates and why we have not had any more energy emergencies. The real test, though, will be another winter. That’s when we’ll find out if the changes really work. While you’ve heard a lot about new “weatherization” requirements for the industry, in this episode of Y’all-itics, Jones and the Jasons talk about what’s different, how confident he is the grid will stay on, and perhaps most importantly, why Texas shifted from affordability to reliability. Jones also explains why renewables are a must.  He was one of the featured speakers at the 2022 Texas Tribune Festival and took our call during the event – even recounting a late night phone call he got from the Governor.

Guest

Brad Jones, ERCOT Interim CEO

Y’all-itics: September 18, 2022

You’ve seen the candidates on the ballot, the ones with the “L” by their name. The Libertarian Party has been around for more than 50-years and they hold only around 350 elected offices across the country. And the party has never broken through with a win in a major nationwide race, or even one here in Texas.  Why then are Texas Republicans trying to kick Libertarians off the ballot in our state? Libertarians will tell you it’s because they’re scared. Republican officials and even some candidates asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarians from the November ballot. The Libertarian Party says the vast majority of those are two way races between, you guessed it, Republicans and Libertarians. In this episode of Y’all-itics, a Libertarian candidate for Congress tells the Jasons about all of the roadblocks he’s facing in his bid for office and why he’s fine with a Democrat winning his race. And the statewide party chair describes the growing adversarial relationship between Libertarians and Republicans in Texas.

Guests:

Kevin Hale, (L) Candidate for 5th Congressional District

Whitney Bilyeu, Libertarian Party of Texas Chair

Y’all-itics: September 11, 2022

That escalated quickly. In the week since our last podcast, during which we broke the news that Republican Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley would be voting for Democrat Mike Collier in the race for Lieutenant Governor, another prominent Republican has done the same. State Senator Kel Seliger calls Republican incumbent Dan Patrick an “extremist,” and says state leadership must adapt to the growing diversity in Texas. These cross-over endorsements certainly send a message, but is it a warning for the Texas GOP? In this episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons are joined by native Texan and political expert Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director of Votebeat. Jessica says the endorsements are significant politically in a state like Texas. And even if it doesn’t change the outcome on November 8, 2022, it could have a major impact by the time the Presidential election rolls around in 2024. You’ll also hear directly from Senator Kel Seliger about why he made his decision and from Mike Collier, who will tell you why he thinks these Republicans are coming to his side.

We invited Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick to join us on Y’all-itics. A spokesman for his campaign said he is unavailable.

Guests

Jessica Huseman, Votebeat Editorial Director

www.votebeat.org

Sen. Kel Seliger, (R) Amarillo

Mike Collier, (D) Candidate for Lt. Governor

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he expects some blowback for what he said in this episode. The veteran Republican and long-time chief elected official in Tarrant County revealed that he will back Democrat Mike Collier instead of Republican Dan Patrick in race for lieutenant governor this November. This is Judge Whitley’s tell-all before he retires from politics at the end of the year. Whitley implores people to participate in elections to reduce political polarization, discusses the brutal primary race to become his successor, and explains why Tarrant County is not turning purple. There’s one indicator that will tell you when that happens, he explained. The Jasons saddled up and drove to Fort Worth for this episode to meet Judge Whitley at one of his favorite places – Acre Distilling Co. where the three sampled whiskeys and talked Texas politics.

GUEST:

Glenn Whitley, (R) Tarrant County Judge

Y’all-itics: August 28, 2022

After nearly 50-years, America is finally returning to the Moon, as Artemis 1 is scheduled to launch Monday, August 29, 2022. The ambitious, 42-day-long mission will be the first time NASA uses Orion, the new spacecraft built to take humans back to the moon. While no astronauts will be on board this mission, it is step one in getting Americans back on the moon by 2024. And the ultimate goal is Mars, moving far beyond the flags and footprints from the original Apollo missions. In this exciting episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons call up NASA astronaut Dr. Stanley Love, who talks about the importance of this mission, particularly as a moment of unity in our country. NASA’s Chief of Exploration Mission Planning Nujoud Merancy also details the massive amount of work that’s formed the backbone of the mission. And the systems engineer explains how this all leads to Mars.

Artemis 1 mission: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-i/

Guests

Dr. Stanley Love

NASA Astronaut

Nujoud Merancy

Chief, NASA Exploration Mission Planning

Y'all-itics: Tuesday, August 23rd

The Jasons don’t often do sequels, but Whitely got a call that two elected officials wanted to give their first-ever news interviews and Y’all-itics responded. In this episode, for the first time, top school board members at Keller ISD and Grapevine Colleyville ISD take questions from a journalist. GCISD Vice President Shannon Braun and KISD President Dr. Charles Randklev discuss the new policies that conservatives majorities on each board just passed this week. They answer why their boards changed the way library books are selected and revised how teachers talk about race, gender and sexual identity. Did any outside conservative groups influence GCISD? What books will not return to the shelves in Keller ISD? And which districts want to replicate these policies elsewhere in Texas? Braun and Randklev answer it all in this special episode.

GUESTS:

Shannon Braun, Grapevine Colleyville ISD Board Vice President

Dr. Charles Randklev, Keller ISD Board President